61. The Pleasures and Perfections of Sanskrit

Sanskrit is an exceptionally difficult language — besides three genders, three numbers and eight cases for every noun, there are several classes of verbs, in both an active and middle voice, each with three numbers and three persons, so that with its moods and the imperfect, a student of the language is obliged to memorise 72 terminations for a single verb alone. Yet Sanskrit is in many ways the most perfect human language, and one which conquered south and southeast Asia, producing a great literature unparalleled in ancient times. Here Sanskritists and admirers of this civilisation, Jim Mallinson, S.R. Bhatt and Sudha Gopalakrishnan discuss the pleasures and perfections of the language with Vikram Chandra.